Examining Defensive Medicine Behaviors in Physicians in Terms of Socio-Demographic Variables: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate physicians' attitudes regarding defensive medicine practices and to investigate defensive medicine practices in terms of socio-demographic variables. Method: Research population was all of the 219 physicians working in public institutions in Aksaray city center. Although the entire population was aimed to be reached, 140 physicians agreed to participate. Data were collected from general practitioners, family physicians, specialist physicians and academic physicians by face-to-face interviews. Data collection tools used in the study include a personal information form containing demographic and sociocultural characteristics of physicians and the Defensive Medicine Practices Attitude Scale. The collected data was analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 package program. Findings: More than half (55%) of the participants stated that they had heard of the concept of defensive medicine, but 69.3% stated that they did not know enough about the content of the concept. Additionally, 80.7% of the participants believe that malpractice lawsuits affect medical practice and 90.7% think that there is an increase in malpractice lawsuits. The averages of the statements regarding the positive and negative defensive medicine sub-dimensions are 3.38±0.60 and 3.19±0.99, respectively, which shows that physicians tend to have a defensive attitude. Conclusion: It has been observed that physicians frequently resort to defensive medicine practices in order to protect themselves from malpractice lawsuits. It has been determined that these behaviors vary depending on factors such as gender, job title, unit of study, reason for choosing medicine, age, professional experience, and years of working in the institution. Physicians turning to defensive medicine practices does not benefit patients, and it is recommended that they be made aware of this issue. The workload of physicians and the number of patients per physician should be reduced.